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Forums » Tech and Talk » Technical » Silent PCs » Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?
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RobNyc
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join:2002-03-06
New York, NY

Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

Is Liquid Cooling really more silent than fan/air cooling ?

usa2k
Please PRAY for Rebekah
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join:2003-01-26
Canton, MI
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Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

It sounds potentially more messy.
Sorry though, no liquid experience here ...

WLiley
Woodman
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join:2000-12-01
Grand Blanc, MI
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I used to cool on air. 2 92mm tornados (& 3 until the wifes protests wore me down)...

Have been water cooling for some time now - using an EXOS system.
The radiator has 3 smaller fans that are considerably quieter (even when on high).

Water cooling is more efficient than cooling on air.
I get cooler temps w/ my water system than I ever got on air, and the difference in sound level is considerable.
--
Team Z Member


"The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over." HST

RobNyc
Premium
join:2002-03-06
New York, NY

Yes.
anyone heard anything on the new Dell liquid cooling pcs?
I currently have since 2005 a custom built p4 3.0ghz with a thermaltake big liquid 12cm cooling system installed. yes it kept and keeps my cpu cooler than air cooler for sure!! and its not noisey .. I've noticed all the servers in the datacenter where i work at damn they're nosey lol and the ones that are not are probably either in big server case (not the long ones) or prob dont even have good cooling
Tikker_LoS

join:2004-04-29
Regina, SK
·SaskTel Saskatchewan

said by RobNyc See Profile :

Is Liquid Cooling really more silent than fan/air cooling ?
it depends on the radiator used to tell you the honest truth

lots of the cheaper water cooling solutions are as noisy as fans, and don't do much better at cooling

If you want to experiment, you can pick up a complete water cooling kit for under $100

it didn't really improve much for me, but it was a great learning experience, easily worth the 100 bucks

jsimmons
Premium,MVM
join:2000-04-24
Falls Church, VA


1 edit
said by RobNyc See Profile :

Is Liquid Cooling really more silent than fan/air cooling ?
It CAN be, if done with proper design.

Water is a much better thermal conductor than air so water will pull the heat away from hot parts better than air and do it basically silently, assuming the water pump is quiet. The noise typically comes from an inadequately designed radiator/fan system which then has to dissipate the heat from the water.

With a radiator with lots of surface area, good unrestricted air flow through the fins, and larger fans that can move more air at lower RPM, you can achieve near silence. Granted, you can achieve nearly the same level of silence just cooling on air alone, but you won't pull nearly the same amount of heat as a well designed water solution. Thats why the vast majority of cars on the road use water cooling to keep the engines cool.
--
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."
- Albert Einstein
Tikker_LoS

join:2004-04-29
Regina, SK
·SaskTel Saskatchewan

Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

said by jsimmons See Profile :

Thats why the vast majority of cars on the road use water cooling to keep the engines cool.
well

part of it is also that it's way cheaper to do water cooling in a car than sticking a big honking passive cooler on it

with PC's now, with the right kind of power management combined with big honking heatsinks and fans, you can get very near silent without the hassle of water

water is really only important if you're going to run VERY hot
eg. overclocking like a fiend

jsimmons
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join:2000-04-24
Falls Church, VA

Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

said by Tikker_LoS See Profile :

said by jsimmons See Profile :

Thats why the vast majority of cars on the road use water cooling to keep the engines cool.
water is really only important if you're going to run VERY hot
eg. overclocking like a fiend
Agreed... I'm a staunch "Air-Man"
--
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."- Albert Einstein

RobNyc
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New York, NY
whatever is clever

signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
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Correct me if I am wrong, but:

You could have single high performance fans air cooling and making a racket or a big radiator or several big radiators for each component that housed MULTIPLE (3) large, slow and quiet fans instead, getting you perhaps better cooling at less noise but more electrical use.

There are a number of good and especially quiet lower performance 120mm fans for radiators.

It would really depend on how good a job you do making your water cooling rig and how you mount the radiator and fans for it...
--
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jsimmons
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join:2000-04-24
Falls Church, VA

Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

Yep. Generally speaking, the larger fans move more air, quietly, and at lower RPM. So a radiator with more surface fin area and larger fans can run extremely quietly.
--
"Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not one bit simpler."- Albert Einstein
Tikker_LoS

join:2004-04-29
Regina, SK
the problem with really quiet AND efficient water cooling is that you need a good sized radiator, good sized pump, good sized water container and all of a sudden your cooling solution is as big as the pc you're attempting to cool

signmeuptoo
Folding and Crunching Not just Breakfast
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LOSTinSpace
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Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

Yeah, but those of us who have lived in Texas will tell you: Bigger is better!

RobNyc
Premium
join:2002-03-06
New York, NY
I just get annoyed with the dirty fans.
So water cooling saves me that headache
Tikker_LoS

join:2004-04-29
Regina, SK

Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

how?

you're still going to get dirty fans on the radiator, or worse, the radiator gets full of gunk that's harder to clean

RobNyc
Premium
join:2002-03-06
New York, NY

Re: Water/Liquid Cooling vs Fan Cooling ?

It takes longer to get dirty IMO
Kearnstd
Elf Wizard
Premium
join:2002-01-22
Mullica Hill, NJ

it should also be noted that external radiator solutions also help with noise indirectly. they dump a bunch of the heat outside the case leaving only low heat parts to need case fans.
--
[65 Arcanist]Filan(High Elf) Zone: Broadband Reports

RobNyc
Premium
join:2002-03-06
New York, NY
And i just messed it up.
I'm trying to take off the cpu block
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